Wisconsin native, conservative critic of everything.
"Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God." ---G K Chesterton
"The only objective of Liberty is Life" --G K Chesterton
"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions" --G K Chesterton
"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition." -- Rudyard Kipling

Friday, June 05, 2015

Walker Fires On His Own Credibility

One supposes that Scott Walker made some silly promises, so he has to come up with some rationale.

...Walker’s point is plain: If the city of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County
and the state don’t come up with a way to help pay for a new playground
for the Bucks, the NBA will make good on its threat to buy back the team
from its owners and then shop the franchise to some other city willing
to play ball.

The governor, by all indications on the brink of officially
announcing his presidential campaign, cited estimates pegging lost
revenue and growth of $419 million should the Bucks skip town....

That $419MM is partially an amalgamation of "fixing up the Bradley Center" and "lost income taxes from pro basketball players."

The "fixing the Bradley Center" half is pure crap. If the Bucks leave, nobody will occupy the Bradley Center, so "fixing" it is stupid (although not beyond the stupidity of Government, mind you.)

As for the income taxes--yes, that will be a loss. But the State has lost income taxes before (see any recession you want to pick) and has survived.

(Of course, CUTTING SPENDING is on the table, right, Governor??)

One more thing: did Abele REALLY convince you that his un-collectable $80 million is worth $80 million? REALLY? Because that tells us that you are ......ahhh......on the slow side, Scott.

Further, we'll subsidize "businesses" in the new facility, meaning that other, tax-paying competitors, will LOSE revenue dollars and thus, pay less in income taxes. Walker's not crying over those losses--but the tax-paying competitors might.

C'mon, Scott. Get with the real world and get out of the pockets of the Corporate Welfare Class.

3 comments:

Minor point of order - what taxpaying competitors? The Bradley Center? Nope, that's government-owned (and a cash cow for the Bucks to boot, even though the NBA doesn't get enough taste for their blackmailing cabal). The MECCA Aren...er...US Cellu...er UW-Panther Arena? Nope; that's government-owned. Maybe the Kohl Center out in Madison? Nope - government-owned. The UW Fieldhouse? Nope - government owned. The Resch Center up in Green Bay? Government-owned.

On the concert side, the Marcus Ampitheatre? Government-owned (and an outdoor venue to boot). You have to travel to East Troy to find the dying-on-the-vine-already Alpine Valley (and their capacity is double the Lasry/Edens place, so Miller Park is more of a competitor).

Walker and company conveniently didn't mention in their "cheaper to cave" math that the state would be spending $20 million to retire the Bradley Center debt, though they were careful enough to include it in their "do-nothing" Scenario of Doom. Guess who holds half of that debt? If you said, "The Milwaukee Bucks," give yourself $20 and put it on Underhill.

Oh, those competitors. The Water Street bars are going to be thrilled with the competition across the river, especially since, unlike Miller Park/Friday's Front Row, there won't be any additional visitors going into the area.

The best they can hope for is the freshly-minted apartment dwellers aren't teatotalers afraid to walk 3-4 blocks (assuming the ancillary development actually happens, that is).